It is common to stack cardboard sheets in full stacks which are then conveyed in a straight line by a floor level conveyor to another machine or stacked on pallets. One form of sheet stacker is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,901,250 granted to Martin on Aug. 25, 1959.
It is also common, since as early as 1979 as shown in Schmidt, U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,604, to create small stacks of cardboard/corrugated (referred to as bundles and to move these bundles from the aforementioned stacker on an alternate path; to a bundle breaker machine where the bundles are separated along perforated or nicked lines into multiple bundles. There are several types of bundle breaker machines, some of which can be used with the present invention. One bundle breaker which can be used with the present invention is the Martin bundle breaker disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 10/229,891 filed Aug. 28, 2002.
Martin et. al. Ser. No. 10/229,891 filed Aug. 28, 2002 was granted patent No. 6,655,566 on Dec. 2, 2003. Martin et. al. Ser. No 10/229,891 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,566 granted Dec. 2, 2003 is hereby incorporated by reference, in its entirety, into the present application.
The need to effect an easy periodic transition from moving full stacks from a stacker machine to straight line floor conveyors to moving perforated or nicked bundles to a bundle breaker has become progressively greater with the introduction of additional bundle breaking machines such as Vanhoutte of Brugge Belgium in European patent 292,067 in 1994; Lucas, U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,022 in 1985; Fernandez, U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,358 in 1999; Duecker, U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,582; granted Jul. 27, 1999; Shill, U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,267 granted in 2000 and Martin and Talken, U.S. Ser. No. 10/229,891 filed Aug. 28, 2002. Thus for the 24 years since Schmidt first introduced a bundle breaker machine, the persistent unsolved need for providing an easy way to transition the line set up from conveying full stack output from the stacker to conveying bundle output from the stacker to a bundle breaker machine has existed.
Prior to this invention, when it was desired to change from straight line removal of the full stacks on straight line floor conveyors to conveyance of bundles to a bundle breaker at a right angle, several different systems were in use. All of these systems required the use of a mobile roll out transfer conveyor which was wheeled into and out of the line set up. Often this mobile roll out transfer conveyor (hereafter “take away system or take away transfer conveyor) had to be stored at a relatively long distance from the stacker and bundle breaker.
One system which could be used was the Geo. M. Martin BOS™ Bundle Transfer System On Scissors Lift shown in FIG. 3 (Prior Art).
In FIG. 3, Prior Art upstacker 17 is discharging full stacks 18 onto a Geo. M. Martin BOS™ Bundle Transfer System On Scissors Lift, hereafter sometimes referred to as an upstream conveyor 3. As configured, the full stacks 18 proceed to a floor conveyor 20.
In the set up shown in FIG. 3 (Prior Art), the Prior Art mobile roll out take away transfer conveyor 64 is parked at a location 65 remote from both the prior art stacker 17 and the prior art unmodified bundle breaker 7′ so that the operator 61 can move quickly and easily from his normal operating station near controls 59 or remote boom control station 59′ along pathway 62 to a second station designated 61′.
When the production set up is changed, not shown, it generally takes two operators, several minutes to move the Prior Art mobile roll out take away transfer conveyor 64 from its parked remote location 65 to a position between the unmodified bundle breaker machine 7′, and the Geo. M. Martin BOS™ Bundle Transfer System On Scissors Lift, or upstream conveyor 3.
In this second set up, not shown, the stacker 17 deposits bundles 2 onto a Geo. M. Martin BOS™ Bundle Transfer System On Scissors Lift 3. Bundles 2 proceed to the Prior Art mobile roll out take away transfer conveyor 64 and hence to prior art unmodified bundle breaker 7′.
The reason for removing the prior art mobile roll out take away transfer conveyor 64 after the production run of bundles 2 is completed is to permit the operator of the stacker to quickly move to the downstream end of the up stacker 17 should problems in the stacker occur. The operator must also be free to move beyond the downstream end of the stacker 17 and observe the operation of the downstream floor conveyors 20 and to return quickly to the controls 59 of the stacker 17 if necessary. The operator may also need to move adjacent to or even onto the upstream conveyor 3 to place dunnage boards on upstream conveyor 3 or place shipping tags on full stacks 18.
Periodic removal of even a small conveyor from one part of a crowded factory floor to another equally crowded part of the factory is a problem without an easy solution. As one production engineer recently stated, “real estate on a busy factory floor is more expensive than real estate in downtown San Francisco.”. Thus the need for a way to store the prior art mobile roll out take away transfer conveyor 64 without taking up space on the factory floor is apparent.
Instead of moving a conveyor on castors to another part of the factory, some efforts have been made to permit the small roll out transfer take away conveyor to be mounted on a pivot and pivoted out of the way. Others have provided tilting mechanisms which tilt the small take away conveyor at an angle to take up less floor space. None of these measures have proved to be satisfactory.
Finally, but not less important, the present system is designed to reduce the chance of injury to the two or more workmen formerly in charge of moving the heavy mobile roll out takeaway transfer conveyor 64 from one part of the factory floor into position between upstream conveyor 3 and unmodified bundle breaker 7′ and to other personnel on the factory floor who could be hit by the rolling heavy piece of machinery.
While this invention primarily addresses the problem of saving space on a factory floor where a bundle breaker machine is involved, the problem also may occur in any dual pathway situation where instead of a bundle breaker being the downstream side conveyor, the downstream conveyor is simply another conveyor.